Monday, January 26, 2009

The NHL All Star break came and went, but not without providing fans with something to cheer about. All the superstars put on a show in Montreal, beginning with the Skills Challenge Saturday night.

The events were fastest skater(similar to fastest runner in SBAA little league which I took first in), hardest shot, special shootout, shot accuracy, and regular shootout. Andrew Cogliano of the Oilers won won the fastest skater, Boston's Zdeno Chara won the hardest shot with 105.3 mph blast, the regular shootout was won by Shane Doan of the Coyotes, shooting accuracy champion was Evgeni Malkin and the special shootout was won by Alex Ovechkin.

The part that I found most interesting was the part when Malkin helped Ovechkin put sunglasses and a hat on before he shot. There has been a feud between the two Russians but the reason never surfaced. Malkin confirmed rumors that Ovechkin punched his agent once, but again, nobody knew what sparked this conflict. Every time the Caps and Penguins played, Ovechkin gunned for Malkin, looking to take his head off every chance he got. The YouTube video at the end of this article is a must to truly understand the beef between the two as Ovechkin tries taking off Malkin's head but just misses and gets the worse end of it. But this weekend they put their differences behind them and both credited country-mate Ilya Kovalchuk for helping them.

The All Star game was nothing short of exciting as the East topped the West 12-11 in a shootout. Unfortunately the MVP went to Montreal's Alex Kovalev, a result of hometown favoring. It was a good weekend for everyone and this is something to look forward to every year. Hockey starts back up tomorrow and the second half of the season should be exciting.

kovalev only has 33 points this season. thats not even top 70 in the league. since the game was in monteal, the fans voted in all canadiens. thats why they had 3 starters and the starting goalie in the all star game. kovalev never should have even been there.